Friday, January 11, 2013

What You and Your Doctor Need to Know about Gluten Sensitivity

In
an issue of Gastroenterology &
Endoscopy News, October 2010, Vol: 61:10 an article was published titled:
“Gluten Sensitivity Baffles Celiac Disease Specialists”. The article begins with a case study that is
similar to so many of the hundreds of patients who come through our doors every
year. A woman in her late 30's was interviewed who had been suffering from poor
health since she was a small child. From diarrhea to canker sores, from rashes
to asthma, and from migraines to debilitating fatigue, there weren't too many
systems in her body that weren't complaining.

As
we too often hear from our patients, she saw many specialists including
gastroenterologists who tested her for celiac disease on more than one
occasion, only to assure her that that was not her problem.

Equally troubling, yet
all too common, she related: “It’s humiliating to go from doctor to doctor and
be told, ‘You’re just stressed out; you should see a psychiatrist.’”
Guess what the psychiatrist is going to prescribe? That’s correct, a dangerous antidepressant
that has a potential side effect of suicide and is less effective than a
placebo – research supported.

I can’t tell you how
common such a scenario is. Continuing to educate both the lay public and the
professional is our only way out of all this needless suffering.

Dr Peter Green had
this to say: “If a patient comes in and says he or she has gluten sensitivity,
most doctors probably think, ‘Where’s the psychiatrist?’ There’s nothing taught
about it and it’s not a currently measurable thing”. “A few celiac [disease]
experts initially rolled their eyes and said, ‘We don’t get into that. There’s
enough work to do to increase the diagnosis of celiac disease without including
this condition that’s harder to define.’ But pressure is now on because the
public is aware of it.”

Now that quote is
music to my ears. “The pressure is now
on because the public is aware of it” – that’s exactly what drives me to write
and lecture as much as I do - I want you to be aware of this. And I want you to pressure your doctor,
because for the most part, they don’t know this data. We were compelled to
write our book “The Gluten Effect” after treating hundreds of patients whose
health problems resolved after eliminating gluten but who were not celiac.
Prior to our book, no other published book had addressed this issue and the
major celiac researchers were not discussing it. We were gratified to see
the shift in awareness occur when our book was published.

Why don’t
psychiatrists and neurologists know that the most common system that gluten
affects IS the nervous system? Why aren't they aware of the great numbers of research studies that have proven
this beyond a shadow of a doubt?

In the article mentioned
above, Dr Fasano cited studies showing that gluten sensitivity is more common
among persons with schizophrenia. Dr. Fasano, along with colleagues, published
a study showing that 23% of over 1,400 schizophrenics had moderate to high levels
of antigliadin antibodies (a test showing that the body’s immune system
considers gluten a toxin) compared with 3% of controls. That is almost an
8-fold increase. Furthermore, a variety of studies have noted a drastic
reduction, if not full remission, in symptoms of schizophrenia after initiating
a gluten-free diet. (Kalaydjian AE et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand2006;113:82-90).

A study published in
2010 demonstrated that the immune response to reducing gluten in schizophrenic
patients differs from that of celiac disease (Samaroo D et al. Schizophrenia
Research 2010;118:248-255). In fact it has been found in some studies
that celiac disease is not significantly more common in schizophrenics than in
the general public, but gluten sensitivity is, and dramatically so. Yet in the
past schizophrenics would have been told that gluten wasn't a problem for them
because they didn't have celiac disease, much like millions of people suffering
with gluten sensitivity.

I think you will
agree that there is plenty of evidence here about a disease that has baffled
doctors for generations. Has anything as
natural as changing one’s diet EVER been put forth as a cure for
schizophrenia? If you had a relative or
good friend with schizophrenia would you want to know this information? How about if that friend had depression or
anxiety or migraines or one of the over one hundred symptoms associated with
gluten sensitivity?

In the woman whom we
initially discussed in this article, it took a friend to diagnose her. The
patient states that she turned to the internet to find out more about this
condition and decided to give up gluten to see if it would help. Her symptoms
improved. As a matter of fact, she stated that the improvement was “life
changing”. Once again, a scenario we hear
often.

The article mentioned that “although estimates vary about
the true prevalence of gluten sensitivity, the highest figures suggest about
15% to 20% of the population”. As research into gluten sensitivity is still in
its infancy, we don’t yet have hard numbers on its incidence. But I would agree
that it’s at least 15-20% of the population.

Dr Kelly, professor
of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston was quoted as
saying: “I wish I knew why [the sudden increase]. I think it’s due in part to
better awareness. However, having said that, there is no question that there
are more people with gluten sensitivity today.” “My own suspicion is that components of
gluten-containing foods are relatively indigestible, but that’s only
speculation.” Actually it’s not speculation.

There is plenty of
evidence to show that our ability to digest gluten-containing foods is not
adequate, for any of us. Why then doesn't everyone react? Remember that the healthier the body, the better able
it is to “turn off” inflammatory reactions, plus it appears that 60% of our
population are in the luck category of not possessing the gene(s) for celiac
disease. How many possess genes for gluten sensitivity remains to be seen, but
we do know that the percentage carrying celiac genes is 40%. There is strong
evidence showing that the incidence of celiac increases with age, so there are
definitely more and more people suffering – well above the 1% so often stated
in the literature. It factually rises to 4 or 5% with increasing age.
Unfortunately this means that just because you don’t react to gluten now is no
assurance that you won’t later in life.

As regards who is at
risk, once again we hear from Dr Fasano: “We now know that kids are only a
small portion of the celiac population, that every ethnicity is at risk and
that most frequently these people present with symptoms that have nothing to do
with the GI tract”. “What is clear to us now [is that] there is this big family
of gluten sufferers—people of all shapes and sizes and symptoms who suffer
several forms of gluten intolerance, including celiac disease, wheat allergy
and gluten sensitivity.”

So should we eat gluten until it becomes obvious that we
have a problem? No, I wouldn't recommend
that. Early testing when the body “knows” there’s a problem, but before
symptoms are too troubling is ideal.
Why? It could save your life. Read on…

Mounting evidence shows that gluten sensitivity is
associated with a higher risk for mortality from most causes. Specifically a
study of over 13,000 patients in Ireland showed higher mortality rates among
gluten-sensitive individuals. Rates of all-cause mortality were significantly
higher in gluten-sensitive patients compared with the healthy population. (Anderson
et al. World Journal Gastroenterology2007;13:146-151).

The article ends with
this admonition: “Experts are putting the call out to gastroenterologists to
educate themselves about the spectrum of gluten-related disorders. They ask
specialists to thoroughly work up their patients with suspected gluten
sensitivity and/or celiac disease and to perform biopsies and blood tests when
appropriate.”

I concur. Please help
me to spread the word. Being healthy and
having an optimally functioning body should be a birth right. Eating food that is nourishing and not acting
as a “poison” should be a choice that everyone has available to them. Though at times it is difficult, those of us
who eschew (avoid) gluten and enjoy good health will tell you that it is
completely worth it.

Let me know how I can
be of further assistance. If you are wondering if you or someone you care about
is suffering from gluten intolerance, please consider calling us for a free
health analysis (408-733-0400) – we are here to help!

If you don’t live
locally that’s not a problem – our Destination Clinic sees patients from across
the country and internationally.

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Who Are We?

The Gluten Doctors are a group of doctors consisting of MDs, Naturopaths and Certified Clinical Nutritionists.

Two of the doctors, Drs. Rick and Vikki Petersen, authored the bestseller, "The Gluten Effect", a book which exposes the dangers of gluten and provides a path to good health for those with gluten sensitivity.

The Gluten Doctors specialize in the area of digestive problems, especially gluten sensitivity and celiac disease. Their clinic, HealthNOW Medical Center, is located in the heart of Silicon Valley in Sunnyvale, California.